Do you ever stop and think about how a local economy benefits from its local riding areas?
Some towns thrive on tourists and out-of-town offroad riders that come through and spend money at local shops, restaurants and gas stations.
Tourism is huge for small towns and keeping this in mind can also help continue the development of new ride areas.
You may wonder how can your visit to riding areas boost a small town’s economy. Consider this:
If you travel to the mountains of West Virginia and visit the Hatfield McCoy trail system youÂ’ll need fuel, food and possibly even a room for the night. These small expenditures create jobs for locals and revenue for that town.
For example, the town of Matewan, West Virginia relies on tourists and travelers to keep its businesses alive. Having the Buffalo Mountain trailhead for the Hatfield McCoy trail system feed right onto the main square in town helps draw people into town to visit its gas stations and restaurants and your dollars help boosts their economy.
Next time you travel try to stop at a local diner and have a meal instead of packing a week’s worth of food from home. Buy fuel in town and support the town in any way you can so the next time you roll through, there’ll be a town there for you to visit.